I recently blogged about this question: should we, as a high school, get kids to choose a "default" major before they leave for college?
Julie Mikuta, a partner at New Schools Venture Fund, emailed me the following. I share with her permission:

I might go one step further, and get them to:

1. Pretend that they’ve graduated with the major they pick (in your project scenario). Then, have them search for a job, forcing them to use craigslist + whatever resources they have to get a job. (this second part is key… more in a minute)

2. Create a living budget based on the average entry-level salary of someone with their major.

I’ve had too many painful experiences with former students who get thru college, and come out with a sociology or social work degree. Then they hit the job market and:

1. They don’t have the social capital to network to get jobs.

My admittedly over-simplified take is that ed reformers’ support first aimed at “to college”, then “thru college”; I’m convinced the one that’s lurking next is “into a job."

Let's pause for a second. Imagine if our school were held accountable not for test scores, or for college success, but for labor market outcomes. Median salary. At least in Boston, the obvious move would be to try to figure out how to get your alums gov't jobs. Cops and firefighters in particular, who typically earn 6-figure salaries in Boston. Various clerks at City Hall seem to do well, too, and teachers average $85,000.

Obviously this doesn't scale very well across a whole sector. There are a finite number of these jobs. But as an individual school, one could try it.

Julie continues:

I say this based on experience with a handful of students who reach out to get help to find a job. I fire up my network. Sometimes it pans out. Other times it doesn’t, and then it is so painful to see the kid who made it out of the projects, first in college to grad, now collects unemployment and builds up a resume that has gaps all over it – because in these times, if they are entry level in a social work setting, they are at high risk of having their job cut when the budget gets cut.

The middle class kid whose parents have more social capital call their friends. The upper SES-level kids have parents who plant them in a well-paying, or at least consistently paying, first job. A degree in a major with “good career prospects”, to use Jay's words, would give them a better shot at a livable wage.

2. Big irony is that they choose that social-focused degree to give back to their community. Instead, they go back to living off public dollars, in the form of welfare, housing support, etc.

3. If you’re 25 and have had a series of one-year jobs, and you’re hanging out in your old community with folks who didn’t take the jaunt to college—well, you do the math. Not exactly breaking a cycle of poverty, or transforming society by getting these kids in positions of influence so that decisions are made differently because our decision makers would be different.

So, just like I think we would do well with more Latin in schools serving kids who are not getting strong language dev’mt outside of the school, I would advocate for encouraging majors that give our kids a high likelihood of employment in a decently paying job.

I think there is no question that if a kid can pull off a STEM major -- science, technology, engineering, etc -- career prospects are much, much better. One question is better understanding the various non-STEM majors, and the likely payoff.

Julie adds:

(Your post hit a nerve b/c one of my fav students called me a month ago after her car got repossessed, and it was accumulating fees at a rate that’d make it darn near impossible to get back if someone didn’t pay soon. No options in the family or friend network. No car = no transportation to potential jobs (she’s been unemployed for a stint).

So, I paid for the car. Dollars come and go. What’s killing me is seeing someone who is phenomenal slowly get beaten down by seemingly insurmountable obstacles that are the reality for a sociology major whose never made more than $28k. If I had to do it again, she would’ve had a different major. No doubt in my mind that I could’ve influenced her decision.

My brother Steve sent me a link from Wall Street Journal. Which majors pay off? Of course this type of data doesn't separate correlation from causation.

I've been involved with Match Education for about 12 years — for seven years as a board member and as CEO since 2011. Before joining Match, I started and ran the Newark Charter School Fund and taught education stuff at Harvard Business School (odd but true). Way back, I was a dot-com entrepreneur. My first job in education, at 23, was as an assistant principal in a catholic school in Harlem.

We do four things here. We run a public K12 charter school in Boston (Match Charter School). We run a graduate school of education that prepares rookie teachers for work in high-need schools (Sposato GSE). We run an alternative college and jobs program for low-income students (Match Beyond). And we share our ideas and practices with the world (Match Export).

Assorted personal facts: I moved to New Jersey from Denmark when I was nine (the Danish part explains my weird name). Upon arrival, I learned English by watching television. I have three brothers. My wife and I have three daughters. The first thing on my mind when I wake up every day is espresso - I really like it. I also watch a lot of soccer on tv. I think it's the greatest sport in the world and a force for world peace.